Welcome to the Nugget page. This is a collection of best practices, instructional ideas, technology hints, ah ha moments, or any other ideas that are worthy of sharing with
that I use for the students to sign. I think that it means a little more to them that they have to sign an agreement, and not just their name. I know that this is a little after the ideal time, but you can still ask them to sign it and keep it for your records.Another nugget is that you previously could not copy and paste from Sketchpad into Easiteach NG. You now can and you can size it quite nicely. Easiteach finally got something right (actually it's sketchpad, but I'll slip my jabs in when I can).
My nugget is to use glass mode in Easy Teach Next Generation. When you are in glass mode you can click on the e on either side of the screen and get a camera tool. Take a picture of what you want on the interactive page. It will automatically show up on your blank ETNG page. You can stretch this in all directions so it is easy to read. I love "glass mode".
This nugget is an old idea that I like to do with an Algebra I class. Last week, I was out of school for a couple of days and the sub( Tom ) left the note that my Algebra II class did not remember doing linear inequalities in Algebra I. He gave them a quick lesson. When I came back in, I decided to do this Algebra I demonstration, even though it was my honors Algebra II and it went really well. I had the class imagine that the x and y axis went right through the classroom seats. I told them that the student that was sort of in the middle was the origin. I then asked the students to figure out what ordered pair they were. Then I asked them to stand up if their y coordinate was the same as their x coordinate. We got a beautiful human picture of the identity function. I asked those students to remain standing and asked the students whose y coordinate is bigger than the x coordinate to stand. This was a good physical picture of the shading that is done when graphing an inequality. I then increased the difficulty of the inequalities and we continued to make representations of the solutions. The students had fun and said that it really helped.
At the conference, I went to a session on the common core. I took away from it a problem. Attached is the problem and what I did with it. I showed this problem to Wayne and he said that the kids will never get it. I showed this problem to Myles and he was skeptical as well. So, even though I was unsure, I decided to go ahead with it. As I was reading "Pathways to the Common Core" from my summer class, it stressed that even though we want our kids to write for information, they still need to be able to create a topic sentence, back it up and then conclude. They also need time to reflect, revise and resubmit their work - as in English. So, I decided to combine these two things together.Take a harder problem, have them work in pairs, give them class time and a few deadlines. Let them submit a rough draft with feedback, things to think about, etc. Give them more time to get the final solution done. I have no idea how this will turn out, but I already had one of my Algebra students come up with part of the answer very quickly. He will have trouble preparing to justify it while others will have problems coming up with the model.
At the beginning of each chapter I ask the students to skim the chapter.Then I ask them to write down at least three vocabulary words they have heard of, at least three they know, and then three they have never heard of. This is a nice way to start the chapter with new vocabulary. At the end of the chapter, the students go back and take a look at their original sheet and revise what they know and what they don't know. This can be extended into solving geometry or algebra problems or even getting to know theorems for either course.
At the NCTM Conference in Hartford in October, one of the presenters, Tom Reardon, demonstrated using the TI-nspire calculators and many of the lessons he or others have created. The lessons can be viewed by students on the overhead without each student needing an actual calculator. All of his lessons can be found on his website at www.tomreardon.com. (Click on the "link to all my stuff" and then on "player files". They are sorted by subject.) I believe you do have to download the document player, but the lessons were very interesting. In many of them, the students could use the pen to click and drag items to investigate changes in slope, area, etc.
My students love competition, so I've had them do races up at the board. I have two kids standing up in the front of the room facing away from the board. I then put up a problem and tell them to turn around. They both race to solve the problem first. I've done it so that the winner stays, but also so that the loser stays until they get the answer right. Then I pull a different kid's name out of a bag and they go up and race. The kids really get into it and I've found that it has been a pretty good review for them. Just a little something different to get them up and moving.
Welcome to the Nugget page. This is a collection of best practices, instructional ideas, technology hints, ah ha moments, or any other ideas that are worthy of sharing with
teachers.